Homing in on the web

The Garden Gates, which operates a retail store in New Orleans, began getting serious about its online channel only in the last year and brought in less than $1 million in web sales last year, says co-founder Chad Harris. But visitors to its web site, TheGardenGates.com, would never guess. In gearing up for an expected sales surge from its expanding number of SKUs, Harris and his team have redesigned the site to highlight the photography of its high-end home décor items. Its e-mails, too, draw in shoppers with beautiful imagery well suited to its high-end products and affluent customer base. Harris has tripled the size of his online staff and purchased more than 400 domain names, each focusing on a particular brand or niche, and plans to gradually launch new narrowly focused sites.